One company's response to the jury verdict in Apple vs. Samsung was still missing: Google's. The company has now responded to The Verge, and there's almost a certain bitterness in their language. Not, as you would expect, directed at Apple; no, the bitterness is directed at Samsung. The message Google is sending to other Android OEMs? Stick to stock Android, and you'll have no problems.

I think its more than that. Just as the carriers are afraid of being turned into dumb pipes, Manufacturers are afraid of being turned into hardware companies only. They don't think that most consumers are savy enough to just look at a spec sheet. They want to provide some visual differentiator, a description next to the device that says "Social aware" or some such.

Edit:

I should add, I know a regional TMobile Store Manager here in the US. He's convinced that most people *like* touch wiz, sense, blur, ect. He was kind of shocked and defensive when I suggested that they hurt the user experience.